


through the years we all will be together

by harpers_mirror (SapphireBryony)



Series: Blow Us All Away [8]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: 25 Days of Wolfmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, M/M, Minkowski-Koudelka kids, Mistletoe shenanigans, domestic AU, everyone loves Doug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 10:43:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12886191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireBryony/pseuds/harpers_mirror
Summary: Doug Eiffel hates mistletoe. But y'know... tastes change.





	through the years we all will be together

**Author's Note:**

> On the first day of Wolfmas... I give you pure unmitigated fluff.

It was the middle of December and Doug Eiffel was having a Rough Week. The general hectic nature of the Christmas season combined with his own antipathy toward the holiday and all its trimmings meant that he generally spent the week leading up to the big day in a grumpy funk. 

This had improved somewhat once Renee and Dominik’s kids had come along - no matter how much of a Grinch he was at his core, Eiffel had to admit that the excitement of the kids on Christmas morning was pretty heart-warming to see. But that didn’t mean that he found the inescapable celebrations and holiday trappings that surrounded him any more pleasant to navigate.

Mistletoe, for instance. Dear god how he hated mistletoe. Ever since a particularly embarrassing incident in seventh grade, he’d gone out of his way to avoid the stuff. The Ghost of Christmas Fuck-You-Doug seemed to find his feelings on this matter irrelevant. Or possibly hilarious, given the amount of it he’d managed to encounter in the past few days.

“Sure,” he grumbled to himself, sidestepping to give the innocent-looking cluster of leaves hanging above him a wide berth. “Let’s combine the joyous magic of a commercialized stolen pagan holiday with the endless amusement of public embarrassment! Freaking brilliant.”

Unfortunately for him, he was starting to suspect he was a damn mistletoe magnet. It seemed like everywhere he’d gone lately, it had been lying in wait for him. 

It was one thing when one of the techs that worked with Hera had gotten clever and attached some to her interface. Though he knew he looked silly doing so, Eiffel had never felt particularly awkward kissing his best girl’s camera lens. This certainly wasn’t the first time.

But when another bunch turned up in the elevator in his building, that had been another matter. As had the one in the foyer at Dom’s office, the one in his taxi, and the one some joker had hung up in his doctor’s waiting room. 

He’d drawn the line at kissing Lovelace when they got caught under a clump at the coffee shop earlier that morning. “Nope,” she’d said flatly, and they went their separate ways.

(Pity. He actually wouldn’t have minded kissing Isabel.)

By and large, he’d been able to get by with awkwardly blowing kisses at his would-be paramours but even so Doug was beginning to feel like a walking sexual harassment suit. At least it was only three days until Christmas. How much more mistletoe could he possibly run into in such a short span of time?

* * *

Guests entering the Minkowski/Koudelka household faced a perilous situation that December the twenty-third: every doorway had a sprig of mistletoe dangling from it, courtesy of the grinning tween in the Santa hat arranging cookies on a platter on the buffet.

Renee and Dominik, busy getting all of the last-minute details seen to, had failed to notice their eldest daughter sneaking down the stairs from her bedroom with a plastic shopping bag and a spool of twine. They also missed her sneaking around the downstairs dragging a kitchen chair to each doorway, which was a definite testament to how hectic the house was.

By the time they noticed the additions to the decorations, it was too late. Dominik just shook his head in amusement and briefly wondered if his daughter was angling for a kiss from one of the friends she’d invited. He wasn’t sure what to make of that idea but knew that now wasn’t the time to worry about it.

Most of the arriving guests took the leafy assault with good humor, though some of the younger children shrieked in gleeful horror at the gross idea of kissing people.

Doug, unfortunately, had a similar reaction to the notion. He’d barely made it in the front door before taking in the terrifying obstacle course of romantic plant-life that awaited him before he tried to turn and make a break for it.

Margot came bounding up to him and foiled his escape. “Uncle Doug! You’re here!” She caught his hand and dragged him over to the Christmas tree where the twins sat shaking packages experimentally and guessing at their contents.

“Yeah, kiddo, I’m here. How’s the party been?”

As she and Celia filled him in - with Theo interrupting his sisters every few moments to shake another present under their noses, Doug scanned around the room. He was trapped. As long as he stayed near the tree, he was probably okay, but venturing out of the room was going to be hazardous.

And the _food_ was in the next room over.

He would simply have to risk it. 

Doug extricated himself from the girls, waved a silent “hello” to Morgan, hiding behind the tree in the corner, extracted a promise from Theo not to shake the presents _too_ violently, and plotted his course. 

If he kept to the edges of the room, he could skirt the ones hanging from the light fixture, getting him all the way to the other side, to the promised land of cider and cookies. Then as long as he swung through the doorway - 

“Eiffel! Jesus.” 

His careful plotting had pinned his attention to the far side of the room, leaving him no brain power to focus on where he was actually going. And where he was going, as it turned out, was “straight into Isabel Lovelace and her full plate of food.”

“Cap- Isabel, sorry, I was just - ”

“Just careening around Minkowski’s living room like a particularly ungainly baby giraffe?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she dusted powdered sugar from her sweater.

He deflated slightly. “Basically,” he sighed. “Dangerous times we - ” He broke off when Margot appeared at his elbow, giggling. 

“Uncle Doooug...” she sing-songed, gesturing upwards. There was a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the top of the picture frame on the wall behind him. He groaned and Margot laughed again. “You know what that means! Gotta kiss Aunt Isabel!”

“Kidlet,” Doug sighed, carefully not looking at Lovelace. “I love you. I would walk through fire for you. But I enjoy having limbs and the full function thereof, and if I do what you’re asking I’m basically gonna forfeit that. Can you let me go this once?” 

Isabel snorted. “Oh come here,” she said. Grabbing a handful of his tee shirt, she gave him a peck on the lips. Raising an eyebrow at Margot, she asked, “Has he paid his dues to Father Christmas now, kid?”

“Yup!” said Margot, bouncing away.

“You okay there, Eiffel?” Lovelace asked him, sounding amused. She was still gripping the front of his shirt. 

“Yeah! Absolutely. Yeah sure you betcha, this baby giraffe is aces right now!” he babbled at her. She snorted a laugh, shook her head at him, and released him with a gentle push. 

He spun away from her - 

\- and straight into Dominik. 

Who was wearing a mistletoe headband.

Doug screamed softly. Dominik looked confused. The kids were giggling again.

Dominik, recovering, waggled his eyebrows at Doug. “What do you say Doug? Care for a little Christmas cheer?” He pointed at his headband and he honestly looked so adorable that Doug didn’t have the heart to shoot him down. 

Which was definitely 100% the reason why he said, “Sure thing, buddy. Take me, I’m yours.”

Dominik’s eyes lit up and he dipped Doug in a very dramatic fashion, complete with a very friendly kiss.

(Yup. Friendly.)

The kids hooted. Lovelace snickered. Doug, newly upright again, smiled dazedly at his friend.

“Uh, Merry Christmas to you too. I feel like I owe you a better present now.”

Dom laughed. “Deal! Now, go eat some cookies.”

“Yes sir!” exclaimed Doug, feeling more cheerful about this whole “Christmas party” thing than he had thus far. Whistling a bit, he swung through the doorway of the dining room.

“Hey, there you are!” Minkowski smiled at him. “What was all that ruckus in the other room? Theo didn’t bring the tree down, did he?”

“Nah,” replied Doug, his mouth full of cookie. “Had to kiss Lovelace and your husband. Margot is a devious little thing. She’s rather thoroughly decked your halls. Hey, totally apropos of nothing, feel like going on another murderous plant-eliminating rampage, boss?”

She stared at him and started to reply, then shut her mouth. Looking up at the chandelier over the dining room table, she sighed. “I see what you mean.” Glancing back at him, cheeks red, she said quickly, “Well, good thing no one else is in here to enforce this! That would be...awkward.”

“Oh, absolutely,” said Doug, equally red in the face. “Very awkward. Just awful.”

“I’ve definitely still got a harpoon gun around here somewhere. How’s that sound?” 

“Uh, like overkill, considering this time it’s not going anywhere or plotting anything as far as we know. But don’t let that stop you!” Doug hesitated, debating whether to say more. Minkowski, starting to exit the dining room, stopped right in front of him.

“What?” she asked.

“Well, you know what they say,” said Doug hesitantly. “‘He knows if you’ve been bad or good...’ ‘Better not pout...’ ‘He sees the darkness within your soul...’”

“Um,” said Minkowski. “I don’t think they traditionally say that last bit about Santa Claus.”

“We,” Doug replied, “evidently grew up in _very_ different households. Now, I don’t know about you, but do you suppose it’s worth the risk?”

Renee looked at him for a minute, and then grinned. “You know what, Eiffel? I don’t think it is. Very astute of you.”

She leaned toward him just as he leaned down and they met in the middle. The kiss was brief but sweet. They broke apart smiling - Minkowski’s a soft, unfamiliar smile and Doug’s a goofy grin he quickly tried to hide.

They both cleared their throats simultaneously.

“Uh, we should probably check on the kids,” Doug stammered. “If Theo starts climbing the tree, he’ll squish Morgan. They were hiding behind the thing.”

Minkowski huffed out a laugh. “Sounds about right. And who knows _what_ Nik has gotten up to with that ridiculous hat. Shall we?” She gestured out of the room.

Doug grinned again, looped his arm through hers, and together, they walked back into the party.


End file.
